Muhammad Ali, the former three-time heavyweight champion of the world, died on Friday evening. The boxing legend was admitted to a hospital in the Phoenix-area earlier this week due to respiratory complications. Family spokesman Bob Gunnell confirmed Ali’s passing to NBC News, saying: “After a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74. The three-time World Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening.”
Ali remained one of the most beloved and revered athletes long after his career was over. Tributes have been pouring in. “We lost a giant today. Boxing benefited from Muhammad Ali’s talents but nearly as much as mankind benefited from his humanity,” said Manny Pacquiao of Ali.
Ali was a wizard with words and he often mesmerized his opponents with his epic trash talking. But as he often said himself: “It’s not bragging if you can back it up,” and he certainly did that during his legendary career in the ring. Ali also took strong stances on social issues, particularly in 1967, when he refused to fight in Vietnam. That position would cost him three years out of the ring, arguably three years of his prime.
He was born Cassius Clay on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. The young Clay took to the sweet science as a 12-year-old and the highlight of his amateur career was when he won the gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Rome Olympics. In the 60s, he changed his name to Muhammad Ali after converting to Islam.
George Foreman, who was knocked out by Ali in the eighth round of their legendary “Rumble in the Jungle” fight in Kinshasa on October 30, 1974, paid this tribute on Twitter:
Ali, Frazier & Foreman we were 1 guy a part of me slipped away "the greatest piece" Muhammad Ali.
